Good evening,

There's one bidder fewer in the mix for the year's biggest infrastructure auction.

As Shell and its adviser, Rothschild, bunker down to assess tabled bids for a $3.7 billion stake in infrastructure assets at Shell's QCLNG gas project, Street Talk can tonight reveal which bigwig investor has dropped out of the race.

The asset manager in question abandoned its bid partner, IFM Investors, in the lead-up to a bid deadline last Friday, deciding to turn its attention to other potential acquisitions locally and offshore.

Elsewhere, we take a look at why Swiss private markets giant Partners Group might be rethinking its commitment to its $3.40 a share bid for Healius.

Finally, a doyen of the local insolvency industry has popped up at a North American firm looking to establish itself Down Under and John Laing has shortlisted bidders for its up-for-sale renewable energy portfolio.

Happy reading,

Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd

Street Talk Editors